Plans And Revelations

By the time we had breakfast and got everything packed up and ready to move on Rapunzel's hair was still ten to twelve feet long. I could have just had her wrap that around herself for the trip but we were traveling through dangerous woods, so just to be sure I stashed her in my pocket space along with all the stuff Gothel and her wanted to keep from the tower.

I was tempted to stash Gothel too but she ended up riding Cassandra's horse and holding on to her gear since the soldier decided to try out her wolf form alongside Ruby. Having a second large wolf to guide us through the dangerous part of the forest didn't seem like a bad plan to me. Interestingly, all of her fur glowed blueish white like her hair, making her pretty easy to follow.

Ella was pretty handy with a needle, so had altered one of her maid dresses to fit Gothel, who didn't seem happy about her demotion to maid but went along with it. One of the things she'd kept on her was a hand mirror that she used to check her youthened features occasionally, which seemed to cheer her up. Knowing she was an expert herbalist, she was also under orders to keep an eye out for anything useful. Her being able to find rare ingredients could really be a boost for Hilde. Snow of course swapped back to her Princess garb, but didn't seem much to care.

Hilde herself was in a great mood. She was really looking forward to being back at her castle. I don't think she liked traveling very much. I didn't tell her she'd have to get used to it. Besides, her castle did make for a great base of operations while I was in this world.

The trip back to the capital ended up being just as boring as the trip out though. Not horribly surprising now that we had a second werewolf patrolling ahead, and one that glowed at that. I could have been out there with them but honestly I'd much rather relax on horseback.

The Queen's guards didn't have much to say about the second big wolf either, though she did get plenty of looks. The Captain of Hilde's guards greeted her and gave a full report of the goings on in her absence, which didn't contain anything that sounded interesting to me.

I stuck by Snow and handled moving Ariel myself as Ella and Gothel handled unloading the horses and moving everything but our personal bags to the living quarters. Made easier by loading up the wolves, which seemed to impress the stable hands quite a bit.

.

Once it was just me and my retinue again upstairs I pulled Rapunzel and their goods I'd stashed back out. Then, while Snow, Ella, and Gothel were putting things away, I called the rest to make a plan for our next step in one of the Queen's sitting rooms.

"Okay first things first." I turned to Cassandra, now back in human form and clothed again, pointing to Hilde. "This is actually Queen Grimhilde, not her daughter. Who would be Snow. I'm not actually married, or even engaged, to either of them. You all serve me mostly equally. I say mostly as Hilde is a good administrator and so far I've seen no reason not to leave her in charge of you all." Cassandra seemed to take that well for the most part. Rapunzel just nodded along, trying to catch up. I knew Ariel was listening in too, which would save time explaining things to her later.

"So Snow is a princess? But you treat her like a maid." Cass said to the Queen.

Hilde shrugged. "Stepdaughter, and I've done so for most of her life. I used to resent her but our Master has shown me I was being silly. Still, it's what she knows and she's good at it. That and pleasing my Lord in bed." She chuckled.

"Ella is a noble as well, though her family treated her even worse, and might have married Prince Henry if things had worked out differently. Princess or commoner." I gestured to Ruby, who grinned at me, not at all ashamed of her background. "You all serve me and my plans as I wish. But I'm not a monster, even if I am currently a werewolf, and I want you to be happy in your service." Thinking of Gothel I added. "For the most part."

"Speaking of your plans, may I ask what we are doing next my Lord?" Hilde asked.

I took her hand and kissed it, causing her to smile. "Of course. The next plan of action involves the sleeping Princess and her guardian. Are you aware of the Kingdom of Ulstead?"

Cassandra and Hilde responded. "Aye." "Of course."

I figured Hilde would be, but was surprised by Cass. I motioned her to continue. "It lies east of Corona along the coast." Hilde nodded. "We, that is Corona, trade with them by ship as the forest between is impassable."

"Maleficent's lair." Hilde said. "and the castle of the Fallen Kingdom lies between us here and Ulstead."

I nodded, that made sense. "So we have an opportunity coming up, Prince Phillip of Ulstead is going to make a play for the Princess. Normally that would be folly but a trio of faeries are aiding him, gifting him with a powerful magic sword and shield."

"How do you know these things?" Cassandra asked me. "She's the one with the magic mirror. Or is the one you carry in your pocket similar?"

Well I guess it was time to really get into things. "I suppose you all should know the truth, you'll find out one way or another sooner or later. I am not from this world. I travel between worlds on a grand quest. In each world I have things I am given to do before I can move on to the next one. Here I am tasked with collecting five Princesses. Or potential Princesses, as Ella counts."

"So that's why you wanted the mermaid, but that still doesn't explain how you knew about her and Prince Eric, or about Prince Phillip." Cassandra continued to grill me. Funny how no one else had questioned me before on this.

"I just assumed he had an oracle of his own, you do seem to consult your own mirror often." Hilde said the last to me.

I nodded, pulling out my Company device. "There is indeed a lot of information in here, but also in many other worlds I've been there are stories of you and I have memories of them."

That got the Queen's attention. "Stories of me in other worlds? Am I really that famous?" Oooof, that ego.

I wasn't going to tell her just how many of them painted her though. "Yes, all of you. Even you Ruby." The dark-haired werewolf blinked in shock.

"So that's how you knew about my power, that ultimate me you talked about is the one from the stories?"

I nodded at Cassandra, holding up my device. "And each of you has a profile in here. The entity I work for collects data from a great many operatives and there are other worlds where alternate versions of you appear."

"So that is where the magic bracelets you have come from then, not some Kingdom far far away." Hilde said, piecing together the puzzle.

"That is where all my abilities come from, and in time I'll get more. And I'll be sharing that power with all of you in ways, like your staying young." Hilde smiled at that, she very much liked power. And being forever young.

She nodded, looking more serious. "Very well, so we know Prince Phillip of Ulstead will be making his way to the castle of the fallen kingdom. And that he can defeat Maleficent?"

"If we do nothing about it, yes. But I want Princess Aurora for myself. And Maleficent too. His magic sword and shield as well for that matter." I laughed.

Cassandra was thinking. "We could track him as a pack, wait until they are distracted battling each other, then spring our own ambush."

Hilde was shaking her head. "If our Master did not want Maleficent for his own, letting the Prince kill her and then striking him down from behind would be an excellent plan. Trying to take her while ready for a fight is a very bad idea though. Maleficent is powerful and best taken unaware. Approaching her as a pack though, now that is an idea."

"We know where her lair is, and we can prepare all kinds of surprises ahead of time. Cassandra can counter her thorn vines and weaken her." I mussed.

Hilde nodded. "And I can snatch her staff from her. It's just a focus, not her source of power, but without it she won't be able to target us well and will be left with broad strokes like the vines. Or targeting herself."

"Turning into a dragon."

"It's her big play, and what she'll likely do when pressed."

I tapped my chin, thinking. "Cass can block her fire with moonlight shields, Hilde beside her pulling her own tricks, wolves to harry her, and anyone hurt runs back to Rapunzel for healing. Snow and Ella should stay here." I said, thinking out loud. Rapunzel was nervously playing with her chameleon, but smiled when I looked at her. Cass looked excited and Hilde nodded, looking grim. Well the Queen best knew Maleficent's power.

"Can you make a bracelet of iron?" Hilde asked me.

"As a matter of fact, I can. She's weak against iron?"

Hilde shrugged. "Her magic is, it's no harm to her directly, but an iron band clamped on her will severely limit her magic."

"Okay. That looks like a plan. Hilde, find out how long we have before the Prince makes his trip and in the meantime find some prisoners for Cass to practice on."

Standing, I walked over to Ruby and Rapunzel, who quickly got up as well, and linked my arms through theirs. "While you are doing that, the three of us are going to get reacquainted with my bed." Ruby laughed and Rapunzel looked excited, though her lizard looked disgusted. Well I didn't care about her pet's opinion.

I did remember to give Hilde her mirror first and took Ariel with us. She only had about twenty hours to go, and maybe letting her watch would lower that even more.